From the 2026 budget audit
Historic gardens on the public payroll — frozen while voluntary options grow.
800.4 millió Ft funds the upkeep of protected historic parks and designed landscapes; held flat so real-terms erosion reduces the tax-financed share over time.
About 205 Ft per taxpayer per year — 800.4 millió Ft total; a small line, but a nominal freeze erodes its real value by roughly 20–25% over a decade.
What you see — and what you don't
The seen: historic gardens and designed landscapes maintained by public staff. The unseen: local authorities, foundations, and nearby property owners whose land values benefit from a maintained historic landscape, funding none of its upkeep, while the general taxpayer covers the cost.
Objection
"Historic gardens are irreplaceable public assets that need consistent care."
Answer
They are finite and existing — not an expanding programme. Freezing the allocation preserves the custodial function while creating the expectation that foundations, local authorities, and neighbouring beneficiaries contribute more. That trajectory is the honest one for a bounded heritage function.
Share if you think local beneficiaries should carry more of the cost of maintaining heritage landscapes.
The analyst's verdict
Care of historic garden heritage
Rationale
This line funds the care of historic garden heritage — the upkeep of protected historic gardens, parks, and designed landscapes. As with the other heritage lines, this is a bounded custodial function over an existing, finite stock of heritage landscapes rather than an expanding programme, and it is small. The line is held at its nominal level: the administrative cost of separately reclassifying a line this size would exceed any saving, and a nominal freeze reduces its real share over a decade while the custodial function continues.
Transition mechanism
Hold at 800.4 millió Ft in nominal terms; real-terms erosion at ~2.5% inflation does the work.
Affected groups
None.
Free Society Institute
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